This was the day after Magan's finger surgery, and she elected to stay at home resting instead of out on the cold street of Chelsea watching the parade go by. I dropped Anabelle off that morning at the church building where the ShowChoir float team was gathering. Then I dropped Ruby off with the AHG girls at Liberty Baptist, then drove to park at the end of the parade at Winn Dixie. Then I made my annual trek down the slowly emptying road back to the front of the parade. I did not have my squishmellow vest on, but still got some strange looks with my minion PJs. But the AHG float had a theme about PJs and candy, and I guess it just fit. This introvert has come a long way to almost enjoy these walks along a crowded street, running over to shake hands or hug friends in the community. And the weather was just perfect, cold but NOT RAINY. I carried a few of the ninjas to hand out to a special few I knew would be on the route. Ruby smiled and threw candy and we made the trip the whole way not stopping for one train...which was very unusual. I am pretty sure that the whole city was wondering "Where is Magan?", as I am almost positive I heard that screamed out a few times. She told the girls she wished she could be there to see them, then I told her I bet it would be on youtube live. And the sharp look from her drug induced eyes made me think that maybe another Hallmark movie was more in her plans, so I shut my mouth.
After our trip through as one of the first groups, we got in the parade lines and got to see Anabelle on her float. Someone on the other side yelled to tell her we were across the street, so she crossed the float just in time to see me and Ruby waving big at her. We saw the dentist float that throws candy and little squeeze teeth to the kids. We saw a few grinches, and one buddy the elf. We saw a little toddler girl get pegged in the eye by some candy, but that was one less on the front line to battle against. Ruby and I waited till the very end to see the horses, then Santa. This year he did not throw any fluffy white balls, which was a little sad, but I think he did see Ruby and gave her a big wave. Davis had a YLDP event that morning where he sat in the freezing cold outside helping people park for a 5K, but he made it back for the parade, and is very happy that most of this YLDP service is complete. It was fun day as always. It will be very strange one day to not be in this parade, as we have since 2011...wow, just checked the blogs, those kids were tiny then.
And it is not really part of the parade, but on that day, the firetruck visits most of the Chelsea neighborhoods with Santa on the truck. Most years we miss him at the "Santa Stop" just at the end of our road, but always wave and see him driving by on the truck. I heard the sirens this year, and me and Ruby ran down the street and caught him at the stop. Well, we think it was Santa...He was the tallest, skinniest Santa we had ever seen. "And he had glasses" Ruby said as we both giggled about skinny Santa. He is definitely not the real one.
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